MIZPAH (rntz'pah), (HO). 71V.P.2, mits-fiazu', watch-tower), is the name of several towns and places in lofty situations whether furnished with a watch-tower or not.
1. A town or city in Gilead (Judg. x:17; xi: it, 34; Hos. v it). The place originated in the heap of stones set. up by Laban, and to which he gave his name (Gen. xxxi :49). Some con found this with the Mizpeh of Gilead in Judg. xi:29; but it is better to distinguish them (see Minter', 3).
2. A city of Benjamin, where the people were wont to convene (Josh. xviii :26; Judg. xx :1, 3; xxi:i ; r Sam. vii :5-16; x:i7, sq.). It was after wards fortified by Asa, to protect the borders against the kingdom of Israel (i Kings xv :22; 2 Chron. xvi :6). In later times it became the resi dence of the governor under the Chaldieans (Jer. x1:6, sq.; comp. Neh. 1,5, 19). ln one place the name occurs with e, Mizpeh (Heb.
ynits-peh'). Its position is nowhere mentioned in Scripture or by Josephus, but it could not have been far from Ramah, since King Asa fortified it with materials taken from that place: and that it was situated on an elevated spot is clear from its name—Neby Samwil (Prophet Samuel)—which, although somewhat distant from Er-Ram, Dr. R.obinson (Researches, ii :144) inclines to regard as the prolyable site of Mizpah, especially as in 1 Mace. iii :46 it is described as 'over against Jeru salem,' implying that it was visible from that city, which is true of Neby Samwil. This place is 110W a poor village, seated upon the summit of an ele vated ridge. It contains a mosque, now in statc
of decay, which, on the ground of the apparently erroneous identification with Ramah, is regarded by Jews, Christians and Moslems as the tomb of Samuel.
"Grove, Stanley, Bonar, Major Wilson and others would identify Mizpah with Mount Scopus, one of the summits just north of Jerusalem, in the continuation of the Olivet range. From this place the traveler gets a very complete view of the Holy City, and from there the emperor Titus looked down upon it. Not far away is the mod ern village of Shafat. Conder notes that a part of the ridge is called Arka es-.S'i'ijra, or, "the ridge of the view." Euscbius and Jerome located Mizpah near Kirjath-jearim, and Conder notes a • Shafir immediately south of Kuryet cl-Anab (Kirjath-jearim), a name having exactly the same meaning with Mizpah—viz., "place of view." Conder also says that there is a place called Untni Siijfa, equivalent to the Hebrew Mizpah, existing on the road from Samaria to Jerusalem, which would be a suitable position for the Miz pah of Jeremiah (xl, xli), which is not necessarily the Mizpaly of Samuel (Quarterly, 1876, p. 170. But his final conclusion is that Mizpah and Nob are identical. Whether the Mizpah of Hosea (v:r) was in Benjamin or in Gilead is uncertain" (Schaff, Bib. Diet.). (See MizrEii.)